Catching up–Fourth of July Treats, New Recipes, and New Baby Nephew Noah!!

Sorry for all the sporadic blogging. My posts have been anything but consistent lately. This week was extremely busy between the 4th of July party I had to plan for, my boyfriend’s birthday and the birth of my new baby nephew Noah! It has been a hectic, but fun week!

Isn’t this just the sweetest face you’ve ever seen?

For the 4th, I had a few of my friends from my grad program come over to hang out with my family. We hung around the pool and my dad cooked for us. We had such a BLAST and it was so great to catch up with them! It’s crazy how you see each other everyday during school and then suddenly you go weeks without seeing each other during the summer! I missed them so much and it was such a pleasure to have them over for the day!

I was so excited about all of the healthy festive treats I made because usually on a holiday, I am surrounded by junk food and end up having to resort to it when I’m hungry. Not this time though! I made sure I had plenty of healthy and clean options to choose from! Below are some pics and recipes! My favorite was the Coconut Flour Cupcake recipe I got from BreeLovesBeauty on Youtube! Click the link for the recipe and also check her Youtube page out! She has a lot of other recipe, workout, haul, and fashion videos!

For the Strawberry Lemonade Vodka, here is what I did:
-Fill a pitcher with water and add a ton of slices of lemon and fresh strawberries (I didn’t count exactly, but I think it was about 3 or 4 lemons per pitcher and 1/2 of a small container of strawberries).
-Let sit in the fridge overnight (I let it sit for 2 nights, just to make sure it really got the flavor)
-The morning of the day you are wanting to drink it, add in Absolute Citron Vodka (I put about 1 1/2 cups per pitcher, but add as much or as little as you want).

I received more compliments about this drink than anything! Everyone loved how LIGHT and REFRESHING it was. It was also pretty strong, so you didn’t need to drink too much of it. But, I found (just as I do when I drink water and vodka) that drinking this helps you to stay hydrated while drinking, and doesn’t give you the bloat that you normally get when drinking alcohol. It also helps flush your system (just like drinking lemon water) and I felt like I stayed full and didn’t feel the urge to snack as much as I normally would! If you have any kind of pool party or event, I recommend you trying this out!

I am also excited to share the Skinny Miracle Noodle Mac and Cheese recipe I got from Cassey Ho from Blogilates. I also recommend looking at her page because she has a ton of “Cheap Clean Eats” recipes. They are very simple, clean, and inexpensive. And I love that she always uses ingredients that you normally have on hand already! I have been wanting to try this mac and cheese recipe and finally did! I tweaked it a little though because I cooked it on the stove instead of the microwave and couldn’t get the right consistency. It still tasted delicious however!

Here is what I did:
-Instead of using the microwave, I boiled the noodles on the stove for about 3-4 minutes. Then drained them in a strainer.
-After putting the noodles back in the pot, I added in the remaining ingredients and stirred while on low heat. Once all the cheese is melted and is mixed together well, you can eat it like this. OR….
-I transferred it to a glass pan, topped it with a little more cheese, cayenne pepper and sprinkled on some almond meal (like bread crumbs) and cooked it on 350 degrees for about 10 minutes (or until cheese is melted and macaroni seems more firm).
-TADA! DELICIOUS Baked Skinny Miracle Noodle Mac and Cheese!!
-Makes 2 servings!

Yesterday, I also made some more homemade Peanut Butter Cookie Larabars and I made my dad a recipe he has been asking me to make for him>> Frozen Dark Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Banana Bites (I forgot to take a picture of them, but here is the recipe online). Since I have pretty much converted completely over to almond butter over peanut butter, I made some for myself using almond butter. They were so easy to make except the chocolate did not come out as pretty as in the picture. The recipe called for Nestle Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips, but I used dark chocolate because I was trying to make this less processed and more clean.

For lunch today I brought the 2nd half of the Coconut Flour Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla that I made for supper last night. I feel like the more I make these, the better I get at them! SO FLIPPING DELICIOUS!!! It almost feels wrong to eat food this good and call it clean!! But, it so is!!